Oregon's Scheduling Law

ORLA and members of other business groups worked together to negotiate substantial, positive changes to SB 828, the restrictive scheduling bill, before it was finally passed and signed by the Governor. Restaurants and lodging properties who would have been included initially were ultimately excluded and those still affected have a much better, workable law. The real-life stories from our members about how this would impact them and the strength of our association helped make these changes. Below is a chart to help employers understand where the bill started, how bad it could have been for employers, and where it ultimately ended.

​Predictability Pay​Employers must compensate employees with one hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of pay, in addition to wages earned, when the employer:

Adds more than 30 minutes of work to the employee’s work shift; or

Changes the date or start or end time of the employee’s work shift with no loss of hours

Schedules the employee for an additional work shift or on-call shift

Employers must compensate employees one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay per hour for each scheduled hour that the employee does not work when the employer:

Subtracts hours from the employee’s work shift before or after the employee reports for duty;

Changes the date or start or end time of the employee’s work shift, resulting in a loss of work shift hours;

Cancels the employee’s work shift; or

Does not ask the employee to perform work when the employee is scheduled for an on-call shift (i.e. if they were supposed to work an eight-hour shift and get called off, they still get half-time pay for eight hours or four hours of pay).

The employer does not have to pay penalty pay if you utilize the voluntary standby list or if an employee initiates shift-swaps.

Volunteer Standby ListAn employer may maintain a standby list of employees whom the employer will request to work additional hours to address unanticipated customer needs or unexpected employee absences if the listed employees have requested or agreed in writing to be included on the standby list and the employer notifies each employee in writing. No penalty pay is required to be paid if you utilize the voluntary standby list and can have employees sign up for this list at the time of hire or add their name at any time.

Hiring Part-time Workers to Fill HoursOriginally, employers would need to advertise and try to hire internally only to part-time workers if they had additional hours to offer before seeking to hire outside workers for the part-time hours.

Good Faith Estimate of WorkAn employer shall provide a new employee with a written good faith estimate of the employee’s work schedule at the time of hire. The estimate may be based on previous years’ hours.

Less Than 30 Minutes Change to ScheduleEmployees may stay on shift up to 30 minutes and/or employers can require employees to stay on shift for up to 30 minutes with no predictability pay penalty.

FranchisesFranchises are included if the individual franchisee has locations totaling 500 employees or more that work in the type of services covered (i.e., janitors do not count towards 500).

Employee Input to ScheduleIn the original version, employers were required to attempt to accommodate a worker’s request for schedule and could be penalized if they did not. In the final version, there is not a penalty if the employer is unable to accommodate the employee’s request and the language clarifies the employer is under no obligation to grant employee’s request.

Right to RestThe “right to rest” provision requires 10 hours in between shifts. The final version allows an employee to consent to work before the 10 hours is fulfilled but employer must pay one-and-a-half times rate of pay (i.e., “clopening”).

Does This Law Apply to Me? You are subject to Oregon's scheduling law if:

You have 500 or more employees as a corporate entity (chains are included but franchises are not unless the franchisee entity has 500 or more employees) and

You are in the foodservice or hospitality industries defined by the NAICS codes in the bill

You are not subject to Oregon's scheduling law if:

You have less than 500 employees

You are NOT in the foodservice, hospitality, or retail industries definedby the NAICS codes in the bill

How to PrepareHere are a few things employers can do to help navigate the restrictive scheduling law for their employees and businesses:

Have a meeting with your employees to explain the new law, how it affects their schedule and what changes you may be thinking about making, if any, because of the new law – ​For example, after the law passed in San Francisco, some employers required employees to submit time off requests at least two weeks prior to the posting of the schedule. If a schedule needs to cover a 14-day period, employees have to submit time off requests at least 28 days in advance.

Use the Voluntary Standby List – Employees can sign up or be taken off the Volunteer Standby List (VSL) at will. Those employees who decide to do so however, are more likely to pick up hours and shifts and increase their paychecks. Again, in San Francisco, when employees did not voluntarily pick up shifts, employers often did not fill them due to the financial penalties associated with mandating an employee fill a shift. This results in fewer employees needing to cover more responsibilities.

Keep in mind the 30 minute rule – Employees may stay on shift up to 30 minutes and/or employers can require employees to stay on shift for up to 30 minutes with no predictability pay penalty. For employees this means they can close out tables/checks or finish their work without worrying about losing tips or wages, and for employers it means having some flexibility to overlap shifts if necessary to continue serving customers.

FAQs ​When does this become effective?

July 1, 2018

January 1, 2019 enforcement begins

July 1, 2020 is the first date for the 14-day scheduling requirement. Prior to that, employers need to provide a seven-day schedule to employees.

What’s the “good faith estimate” of hours to new hires?An employer shall provide a new employee with a written good faith estimate of the employee’s work schedule at the time of hire. The estimate may be based on previous years’ hours.

What does the “Employee Input to Schedule” clause mean?In the original version, employers were required to attempt to accommodate a worker’s request for schedule and could be penalized if they did not. In the final version, there is not a penalty if the employer is unable to accommodate the employee’s request and the language clarifies the employer is under no obligation to grant an employee’s request.

Some of this still seems unclear or ill-defined. Will there be additional clarification of this law?Yes. The Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) will be holding rulemaking sessions, probably in late winter/early spring 2018 to clarify and better define some of the more ambiguous parts of the law. ORLA will be active in the rulemaking process to ensure fairness and equity on any changes or clarifications.